Saturday, December 13, 2008

I am a collector, and there are Some records I still need on vinyl... if anyone out there wants to donate them to me for this site, that would be awesome. If not I would pay for them as well. Help a metal brother out!

Cirith Ungol are the ultimate cult metal band, and I feel sorry for anyone that has never heard them. I've uploaded "king of the dead" a year ago so check the search section to find it on here. There really isn't another metal band I dig as much as C.U. besides perhaps the obvious Maiden, or Slayer. That's why I was recently so bummed on loosing 2 of their LPs in a drunken mistake that left the first two records warped. I'm still missing perhaps my favorite LP by them "king of the dead", though I was able to score and replace a copy of "frost". So come on you fuckers... help a metal brother out. hit me in the comments for my address, and send me a copy of "king of the dead".
These guys supposedly formed in 1972, and later recorded a demo in 1979(which I can put on here if people want to hear it). I've only ever seen live footage from one of their shows, and its from pretty far away, and left me just wanting to see more. Tim Baker the vocalist was brought out by stage hands in a coffin, simply amazing when he appears from it and starts screaming. There is such an air of mystery to these dudes, as they rarely did interviews.
These guys really didn't sound like anyone else, and made teenage kids like me realize anyone could sing in a metal band. I read someplace that they were trying to have the same effect that one would feel from that first bong hit. The artwork was always superb on all their records.
This is the bands third LP, and is straight up awesome. Total ripping Doom metal that is a bit more straight forward then either of their previous releases, but equally as great. The guitars no longer have that 60's sorta sound they they were fucking with earlier.
In high school I could barely find anyone else that found this stuff as awesome as I did. Maybe my Latham pals Dave Stevenson, and Pat J. Totally reminds me of hanging out in the smoking area we had on school grounds, pretending to smoke cigs while in reality getting baked for my next class. I wore a denim Jacket with the words "Riot" painted on the back, and it included patches by the likes of Cirith Ungol, Celtic Frost, Saxon, Slayer, Metallica, etc. This upload is missing the last track.

Doomed planet
Trapped on a dying world a world to late to save
Mankind is on the move and he's marching to his grave
False prophets filled with greed leaders who rule by fear
By their lies they are betrayed and their message crystal clear

We're living on a doomed planet a planet to late to save
We're living on a doomed planet mankind's marching to his grave

Dark clouds foul the sky as the end is well at hand
The acid rain will fall sweeping death across the land
The poison rivers flow to a helpless dying sea
Of the wicked race of man this world will soon be free

Trapped on a dying world, a world of hate and pain
The judgement has arrived and the verdict is insane
The masses cringe in fear for their sentence has arrived
May the punishment be slow and the guilty flayed alive

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

RF7 were a L.A. band fronted/started by childhood tv star Felix Alanis. The band didn't really sound like many of their other LA punk brothers. They had a more rockin oi skinhead sound. The band started their own record label(smoke seven), and put out most of their own releases, and many off their friends (redd kross, circle one, etc). I only own this and the bands first 12". They do an amazing cover of CCR's fortunate son on this ep.
I was turned onto these guys by Bones one of the S.F. skins in around 1985-86. I moved into the house many of these skins were living in on 603 Fell street. The place was a fort like barracks with bunks, and a huge projected screen tv. They were moving out as I was moving in, and our time overlapped by a week or two. Dudes were in a punk oi band called the Noise Boyz who I saw once. They were influenced by the likes of AC/DC, RF7, and Blitz. All they did was drink bad beer, fight, and listen to lots of AC/DC. When these skinheads out they left some records.. I was a lucky man.

This record was released in '89, but recorded in 1987. Pretty thrashing death metal stuff from these Florida metal pioneers. The band played tons of shows with the likes of DRI, COC, Agonostic Front, etc. In fact the bands first show in 1985 was with Florida's infamous punk band Roach Motel. Though these guys were heavily involved in the diy hardcore scene, they had a huge impact on Florida and underground metal. The production is raw as shit on this release as they recorded most of their early stuff in their living room. Both these songs can be found on the first LP, in a less raw more pro recording. I hear lots of Possessed and Death when I listen to this ep. Only 300 of these were pressed on flight nineteen records. This was heavily traded in the underground tape trading community of the 1980's. This makes takes me back to those days of trading with pen pals around the globe. Thought of this band after seeing a high school/metal buddy by the name of Dave Stevenson at the A7 reunion gig in NYC this past weekend. Dave hasn't changed at all and is still as metal as ever. We used to roam the back streets and malls of Latham NY back in the mid 80's smoking up, and blasting metal in the woods.

If you read my blog at all you know that as a youngin' I was pretty obsessed with German hardcore. Both these punk bands were from West Germany during the time when the wall was still up, and people were pissed off. I was turned onto Challenger Crew because I saw the name and fell in love with it. I later found their 7" ep after seeing it advertised in Maximum RNR. After getting that I found this obscure gem of an LP, that know one I've ever known has given two shits about.
Another record that makes me think of my move home/ cross country trip back to Albany NY, from Livermore California in 1989. I left some good friends back there(Kenny, Kurt, Zoran), and listening to this record makes me recall my thinking about if I was making the right decisions at the time. I was unsure of what I was doing moving back, but somehow felt it necessary for family stuff. That's all I was thinking about on the drive through the mid west, and I listened to a lot of this album on my crummy tape player.
EFA played a style of hardcore that made me think of the second Christ On Parade record. Especially the vocals. Don't be put off by the mellowness of the first songs intro, this record gets moving, and is raw as shit hardcore. Challenger Crew played a more crossover style of thrashing hardcore that has influences of Attitude Adjustment mixed with the likes of some German punk(Tu Du Hospital, Sons Of Sadism). Great stuff from both these guys, and I've stolen many a riff from both bands. don't let the fact that they were German deter you from downloading some great 80's punk/hardcore.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Sticking with the letter G here...doh! Generic were from New Castle England, and were pretty far off from generic sounding. The band put out a bunch of records including splits with the Electro Hippies, Mortal Terror, etc. This is the last recording by the band, in fact they'd already broken up, but somehow convinced Sned to get back together to record this ep. I think they used a different bass player? When listening to these guys, I think they are pretty melodic sounding, with odd time changes, and still some speed. I guess the vox are what make them fall into that crusty punk "genre", as they are pretty gruff and semi Motorheadish at times. My favorite song is "stop", used to listen to this over and over again when I was a just a lad. The band was known for its politics.
I Was excited to tour with the drummer Sned, in his band Suffer in the 90's. I Wasn't however so excited to sleep next to this snoring bastard and his stinky feet. Dude was hilarious on tour. He would not allow Dropdead who we were traveling with to gas up at Shell. I love you Sned!

Monday, December 1, 2008

I can recall as clear as day buying this 7" at Strawberry's records and tapes in around 1983. My buddy Mark Szwarcberg who played bass in various metal bands in the Latham NY area had scored this gem, and then taped it for me. I stll can't tell you which song on here I like more. After finally mustering up the $2.75 it cost to buy this fucker, I headed to Strawberry's with my folks on a Sat morning. Man how times have certainly changed. Back then when I was 16 years old I was able to get $1.00 a day from my mom for school lunch... I'd of course skip lunch in order to have the $5 a week to spend on music. Seriously... during the school year... The only money I had coming in was from this, and my $5 a week allowance for taking out the trash, and doing dishes. Ten bucks back then used to actually supply me with a new record and a couple comic books every week(maybe a pack or two of smokes as well). At any rate I bought this ep, and then bought the 12" a couple weeks later. I was totally disappointed with the 12", but can't tell you how many times I must have listed to this 7" over and over again. Geddes Axe were an Early NWOBHM band that formed in '79, and hailed from Sheffield England. The band had a heavy Dark Star, Jaguar, early Def Leppard, & early Motley Crue sound. "Rock n Roll is the way" Had that sorta punk vocal that crue used to have during their "to fast for love" period. This is a seriously sick record, with completely ridiculous cover art. Enjoy, and remember to Sharpen your wits.